In 1868 Black Americans were granted equal protection and citizenship in the United States of America. However, in 1896 the Supreme Court of the United States held in Plessy v. Ferguson that “separate was equal”. There was “no inferiority suggested by keeping races separate” and so things went for about 60 years. In 1954 in all changed. Brown v. Board of Education demonstrated to the SCOTUS that separate was not equal and it was held that states could not discriminate between races in matters that were of compelling government interest. The Civil Rights movement pressured states to remove all discriminatory laws and in 1964 the Civil Rights Act expanded the law forbidding discrimination to more scenarios. Today there is virtually no overt, legal discrimination in the United States of America.

How did one of the greatest legal and social changes in history occur? Read…